LACON — If you suspect that participants in motorsports for modified trucks use a lot of parts in keeping their vehicles running, you’re right.

And vendors eager to sell those parts have helped spur growth of the Marshall County Sand Trap through sponsorship support that has made it possible to attract more and better competitors, who in turn draw more fans, said track owner Dan Smith.

“It brings a lot of outside people to the area for these events,” Smith said.

An example has been the Contingency Connection, a Virginia-based coalition of nearly 100 performance parts suppliers that have contributed to purses, bonuses, and prizes that have helped the Lacon facility become an increasingly attractive venue, Smith said.

“The total package comes to about $100,000 for the year,” Smith said.

The Lacon track is the first of its type to have such an arrangement, said company official Ronnie Ball. “This is the first time we’ve been involved in mud,” Ball said. ”We’ve been very pleased with what Dan’s doing.”

Although the track will be hosting high-profile monster and mega truck events the next two weekends, it’s also the guys who come out for regular rounds of mud bogs or similar events that the advertisers want to reach, Ball said. They make up most of the performance parts market, and they’ll often spend whatever they have to in order to stay in action, he observed.

“About 85 percent of the market is the guys who come out there and race with Dan every week,” Ball said. “My goal is to bring one more participant to Dan’s back gate. Dan’s in the entertainment business, and I’ve got to do everything I can to make sure that he can put on a show.”

That support will appear, for instance, in the local mud bog racing each morning this weekend, Smith said. Bonus money from Contingency Connection will factor heavily into purses in events drawing 75 to 100 entrants who are “just regular guys with fixed-up trucks,” he added.

“The winner (in some events) could leave here with $1,300,” Smith said. “That’s why so many trucks are coming.”

Gary L. Smith can be reached at (800) 516-0389 or glsmith@mtco.com. Read his Northern Circuit blog at pjstar.com. Follow him on Twitter @Glsmithx.